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{{Short description|1960 film by Joseph Losey}}
{{Short description|1960 British film by Joseph Losey}}
{{Other uses|The Criminal (disambiguation){{!}}The Criminal}}
{{Other uses|The Criminal (disambiguation){{!}}The Criminal}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox film
{{Infobox film
|name = The Criminal
| name = The Criminal
|image = The Criminal film poster.png
| image = The Criminal film poster.png
|image_size =
|caption =
| caption =
|director = [[Joseph Losey]]
| director = [[Joseph Losey]]
|screenplay = [[Alun Owen]]
| screenplay = [[Alun Owen]]
|producer = [[Nat Cohen]]
| story = [[Jimmy Sangster]] (uncredited)
|starring = [[Stanley Baker]]<br>[[Sam Wanamaker]]<br>[[Grégoire Aslan]]<br>[[Margit Saad]]
| producer = Jack Greenwood
| starring = [[Stanley Baker]]<br>[[Sam Wanamaker]]<br>[[Grégoire Aslan]]<br>[[Margit Saad]]
|music = [[John Dankworth]]
| music = [[John Dankworth]]
|cinematography = [[Robert Krasker]]
| cinematography = [[Robert Krasker]]
|editing = [[Reginald Mills]]
| editing = [[Reginald Mills]]
|released = {{Film date|1960|10|28}} (London)
| released = {{Film date|1960|10|28}} (London)
|runtime = 97 minutes
| runtime = 97 minutes
|studio = [[Merton Park Studios]]
| studio = [[Merton Park Studios]]
|distributor = [[Anglo-Amalgamated]] <small>(UK)</small>
| distributor = [[Anglo-Amalgamated]] <small>(UK)</small>
|country = United Kingdom
| country = United Kingdom
| budget = £60,000<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/josephloseyreven00caut/page/6/mode/1up?q=budget| title=Joseph Losey|last=Caute|first= David|year=1994 |publisher=Oxford University Press|page=139}}</ref>
|language = English
| language = English
}}
}}
'''''The Criminal''''' is a 1960 British [[neo-noir]] [[crime film]] produced by [[Nat Cohen]] and directed by [[Joseph Losey]], starring [[Stanley Baker]], [[Sam Wanamaker]], [[Grégoire Aslan]], and [[Margit Saad]]. [[Alun Owen]] wrote the screenplay, from a story by an uncredited [[Jimmy Sangster]].
'''''The Criminal''''' (released in the United States as '''''The Concrete Jungle''''') is a 1960 British [[neo-noir]] [[crime film]] directed by [[Joseph Losey]] and starring [[Stanley Baker]], [[Sam Wanamaker]], [[Grégoire Aslan]], [[Jill Bennett (British actress)|Jill Bennett]], and [[Margit Saad]].<ref>Palmer and Riley, 1993 p. 160: Filmography</ref><ref>Hirsch, 1980 p. 236-237: Filmography</ref> Baker plays Johnny Bannion, a recently-paroled gangster (patterned after [[Albert Dimes]]<ref name=":0" />) who is sent back to prison after robbing a racetrack, with both the authorities and the criminal underworld looking for the money.


[[Alun Owen]] wrote the screenplay, from a story by an uncredited [[Jimmy Sangster]]. [[John Dankworth]] composed the musical score, with a title song sung by [[Cleo Laine]]. The ensemble supporting cast features [[Jill Bennett (British actress)|Jill Bennett]], [[Rupert Davies]], [[Laurence Naismith]], [[Patrick Magee (actor)|Patrick Magee]] and [[Murray Melvin]] in his film debut. The film, a [[B movie | “B”]] melodrama <ref>Hirsch, 1980 p. 76: “...a B movie prison melodrama redeemed by Losey’s skillful mise-en-scene.”</ref> is noted for its harsh and violent portrayal of prison life which led it to be banned in several countries, including Finland and Ireland.
The film depicts a harsh and violent portrayal of prison life that led to the film being banned in several countries, including Finland.

It was released in the United States as '''''The Concrete Jungle'''''.


==Plot==
==Plot==
Johnny Bannion is a career criminal with an entourage of minor criminals and fast girls. After being [[parole]]d from a three-year stint in prison, he begins planning his "comeback" - a [[racetrack]] heist for £40,000. He successfully plans and executes the robbery with the help of his partner, a well-connected American named Mike Carter ([[Sam Wanamaker]]). Unbeknownst to him, the racetrack is owned by another gangster. Word is spread of his responsibility, he's double-crossed by his associates, and he is sent back to prison, where he is a well known figure.


⚫
In prison, [[Italian mob]] boss Frank Saffron takes him under his wing and secures a move to a different block through claiming to be a [[Roman Catholic]]. He tells him the outside world wants their £40,000 back, but is prepared to give favours if he gets a cut. They make their plans whispering to each other during Sunday mass.
Bannion (Baker) is a career criminal with an entourage of minor criminals and fast girls. He plans a robbery at a [[racetrack]] and gets £40,000 - but in reality this is another crook's money. Word is spread of his responsibility and he is sent to [[prison]], where he is a well known figure.


⚫
The death of an inmate triggers a [[prison riot]]. The other prison boss, the Irish O'Hara, is less sympathetic to Bannion. During the riot, Bannion opens the door to let the guards back in and wins favour of the prison governor. He is transferred to a low security prison for his assistance but is booed by fellow inmates as he leaves.
⚫
In prison the Italian boss Frank Saffron takes him under his wing and secures a move to a different block through claiming to be a [[Roman Catholic]]. He tells him the outside world wants their £40,000 back, but is prepared to give favours if he gets a cut. They make their plans whispering to each other during Sunday mass.


⚫
During the transfer, it is revealed that Bannion paid £40,000 for the riot and a "fast car". The car appears and drives the prison van off the road, rescuing Bannion. However, he has been double crossed. He is taken to a [[narrow boat]] where the criminals he robbed are waiting, also with his lover Suzanne as security. They flee, but Bannion is hit by a bullet as they escape. They reach a snowy field where Johnny shoots one of his three pursuers before being shot himself. He dies before being able to say where the money is.<ref>Hirsch, 1980 p. 76: “Brooding, hulking, shrewd, Bannion conforms to a stereotyped concept of a B-move hood. He knows how to survive in a concrete jungle of the underworld both in and out of prison.”</ref>
⚫
When one of the weaker inmates is planted with a blade and falls to his death in a scuffle with the guards, this triggers a [[prison riot]]. The other prison boss O'Hara is less sympathetic to Bannion. During the riot Bannion opens the door to let the guards back in and wins favour of the prison governor. He is transferred to a low security prison for his assistance but is booed by fellow inmates as he leaves.

⚫
During the transfer, it is revealed that Bannion paid £40,000 for the riot and a "fast car". The car appears and drives the prison van off the road, rescuing Bannion. However, he has been double crossed. He is taken to a [[narrow boat]] where the criminals he robbed are waiting, also with his girlfriend as security.

They flee, but Bannion is hit by a bullet as they escape. They reach a snowy field where Johnny shoots one of his three pursuers before being shot himself. He dies before being able to say where the money is.


==Cast==
==Cast==
Line 60: Line 57:
* Jack Rodney as Scout
* Jack Rodney as Scout
* John Molloy as Snipe
* John Molloy as Snipe
* Brian Phelan as Pauly Larkin
* [[Brian Phelan]] as Pauly Larkin
* [[Paul Stassino]] as Alfredo Fanucci
* [[Paul Stassino]] as Alfredo Fanucci
* [[Jerold Wells]] as Warder Brown
* [[Jerold Wells]] as Warder Brown
Line 75: Line 72:
* [[Danny Sewell]] (uncredited)
* [[Danny Sewell]] (uncredited)
* [[Kenny Lynch]] as Prisoner
* [[Kenny Lynch]] as Prisoner
}}


==Production==
==Production==
Joseph Losey said he was handed a ready-made script. "It was a concoction of all the prison films Hollywood ever made", he said. "Both Stanley Baker and I refused to work until they let us write our own script. Which is what we did."<ref name="guardian">{{Cite news|title=FILM CRAFT: Joseph Losey talks to Peter Lennon|work=The Guardian|location=London|date=July 9, 1962|page=5}}</ref> He says the producers wanted a sequence where the criminals rob a race track but he felt that had been done in ''[[The Killing (film)|The Killing]]'' (1956) so he filmed it taking place off screen.
[[Joseph Losey]] said he was handed a ready-made script. "It was a concoction of all the prison films Hollywood ever made", he said. "Both Stanley Baker and I refused to work until they let us write our own script. Which is what we did."<ref name="guardian">{{Cite news|title=FILM CRAFT: Joseph Losey talks to Peter Lennon|work=The Guardian|location=London|date=July 9, 1962|page=5}}</ref> He says the producers wanted a sequence where the criminals rob a race track but he felt that had been done in [[Stanley Kubrick]]'s ''[[The Killing (film)|The Killing]]'' (1956), so he filmed it taking place off screen. According to Losey, Johnny Bannion was modelled on real-life [[Soho]] gangster [[Albert Dimes]], whom Baker was acquainted with.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BFI Screenonline: Criminal, The (1960) |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/485487/index.html |access-date=2023-04-30 |website=www.screenonline.org.uk}}</ref> Frank Saffron, the prison mob boss, was patterned after [[Charles Sabini]].


The film was the debut for several of its actors, including [[Murray Melvin]], [[Roy Dotrice]], [[Neil McCarthy (actor)|Neil McCarthy]] and [[Derek Francis]].
The theme is sung by [[Cleo Laine]].

==Release==
The film premiered at the [[Edinburgh International Film Festival]], August 28, 1960. It had a limited release in the United States, May 1962, but was “not shown at a major New York theatre.”<ref>Hirsch, 1980 p. 237: Filmography</ref>


==Reception==
==Reception==
According to Losey the film was a commercial success. He said the film was banned in Ireland because so many of the prisoners were Irish Catholics.<ref name="guardian"/>
According to Losey the film was a commercial success. He said the film was banned in Ireland because so many of the prisoners were Irish Catholics.<ref name="guardian"/><ref>Sanjek, 2002: “...The Criminal (1960) starring Stanley Baker, failed at the box office, and Losey was thereafter unable to secure work.”</ref>

⚫
The film was reportedly very successful in Paris.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|title=EXPATRIATE RETRACES HIS STEPS: Joseph Losey Changes Direction With His British 'Servant'|author=EUGENE ARCHER|date=Mar 15, 1964|work=New York Times|page=X9}}</ref>
==Retrospective appraisal==
Characterizing the film’s style as “vital and vulgar as ever,” critic [[Dan Callahan]] at ''[[Senses of Cinema]]'' offers this measured praise:
{{blockquote | Losey’s command of atmosphere and his ability to build tension are outstanding here…The bursts of violence in ''The Criminal'' are orgasmic in their surety, in their explosive feeling of energy at last unleashed. Some scenes spill over the top, making an unconvincing mess, yet mournful soundtrack jazz and winter landscapes signal a darkening of Losey’s consciousness.<ref>Callahan, 2003: Ellipsis reads: “he even uses some cockeyed [[German Expressionism | German Expressionist]] angles.”</ref><ref>Hirsch, 1980 p. 77: Losey “overcomes its formulaic elements and achieves an individual distinction.”</ref>}}

==Theme==
Film historian [[Foster Hirsch]] describes the film as “a [[Naturalism (literature) | naturalistic]] study of the way the environment both creates and entraps a criminal mentality.<ref>Hirsch, 1980 p. 57</ref>

Losey presents three major settings in the film: the penitentiary; Bannion’s apartment after his parole; and a desolate winter landscape where he’s hidden the heist money. None of these offer a refuge for the criminal. The first two domains appear as equivalents: the prison is merely the obverse of society at large, both of which impose repressive social hierarchies and inequities.<ref>Hirsch, 1980 p. 77: Losey’s “sustained use of the prison as a metaphor for society.”</ref> The visual contrast of the final setting - a snow-covered countryside field - proves fatal:


{{blockquote | [T]he whiteness of the landscape contains its own terror; it too is a threatening rather than nurturing environment, and it is here, against the icy, impersonal whiteness, that the criminal is killed.<ref>Hirsch, 1980 p. 77-78</ref>}}
⚫
The film was reportedly very successful in Paris.<ref>{{Cite news|title=EXPATRIATE RETRACES HIS STEPS: Joseph Losey Changes Direction With His British 'Servant'|author=EUGENE ARCHER|date=Mar 15, 1964|work=New York Times|page=X9}}</ref>


==References==
== Footnotes ==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
{{Reflist}}
== Sources ==
*[[Dan Callahan | Callahan, Dan]]. 2003. ''Losey, Joseph.'' [[Senses of Cinema]], March 2003. Great Directors Issue 25.https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/greatdirectors/losey/#:~:text=The%20dominant%20themes%20of%20Losey's,love%20story%20in%20his%20films. Accessed 12 October, 2024.
*[[Foster Hirsch | Hirsch, Foster]]. 1980. ''Joseph Losey.'' [[Twayne Publishers]], Boston, Massachusetts. {{ISBN | 0-8057-9257-0}}
*Palmer, James and Riley, Michael. 1993. ''The Films of Josef Losey.'' [[Cambridge University Press]], Cambridge, England. {{ISBN |0-521-38386-2}}
*[[David Sanjek | Sanjek, David]]. 2002. ''Cold, Cold Heart: Joseph Losey’s The Damned and the Compensations of Genre.'' [[Senses of Cinema]], July 2002. Director: Joseph Losey Issue 21.https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2002/director-joseph-losey/losey_damned/ Accessed 10 October, 2024.


==External links==
==External links==
Line 110: Line 126:
[[Category:1960s prison films]]
[[Category:1960s prison films]]
[[Category:1960s British films]]
[[Category:1960s British films]]
[[Category:English-language crime drama films]]

Latest revision as of 01:58, 20 December 2024

For other uses, see The Criminal.

The Criminal
Directed byJoseph Losey
Screenplay byAlun Owen
Story byJimmy Sangster (uncredited)
Produced byJack Greenwood
StarringStanley Baker
Sam Wanamaker
Grégoire Aslan
Margit Saad
CinematographyRobert Krasker
Edited byReginald Mills
Music byJohn Dankworth
Production
company
Distributed byAnglo-Amalgamated (UK)
Release date
  • October 28, 1960 (1960-10-28)
(London)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£60,000[1]

The Criminal (released in the United States as The Concrete Jungle) is a 1960 British neo-noir crime film directed by Joseph Losey and starring Stanley Baker, Sam Wanamaker, Grégoire Aslan, Jill Bennett, and Margit Saad.[2][3] Baker plays Johnny Bannion, a recently-paroled gangster (patterned after Albert Dimes[4]) who is sent back to prison after robbing a racetrack, with both the authorities and the criminal underworld looking for the money.

Alun Owen wrote the screenplay, from a story by an uncredited Jimmy Sangster. John Dankworth composed the musical score, with a title song sung by Cleo Laine. The ensemble supporting cast features Jill Bennett, Rupert Davies, Laurence Naismith, Patrick Magee and Murray Melvin in his film debut. The film, a “B” melodrama [5] is noted for its harsh and violent portrayal of prison life which led it to be banned in several countries, including Finland and Ireland.

Plot

[edit]

Johnny Bannion is a career criminal with an entourage of minor criminals and fast girls. After being paroled from a three-year stint in prison, he begins planning his "comeback" - a racetrack heist for £40,000. He successfully plans and executes the robbery with the help of his partner, a well-connected American named Mike Carter (Sam Wanamaker). Unbeknownst to him, the racetrack is owned by another gangster. Word is spread of his responsibility, he's double-crossed by his associates, and he is sent back to prison, where he is a well known figure.

In prison, Italian mob boss Frank Saffron takes him under his wing and secures a move to a different block through claiming to be a Roman Catholic. He tells him the outside world wants their £40,000 back, but is prepared to give favours if he gets a cut. They make their plans whispering to each other during Sunday mass.

The death of an inmate triggers a prison riot. The other prison boss, the Irish O'Hara, is less sympathetic to Bannion. During the riot, Bannion opens the door to let the guards back in and wins favour of the prison governor. He is transferred to a low security prison for his assistance but is booed by fellow inmates as he leaves.

During the transfer, it is revealed that Bannion paid £40,000 for the riot and a "fast car". The car appears and drives the prison van off the road, rescuing Bannion. However, he has been double crossed. He is taken to a narrow boat where the criminals he robbed are waiting, also with his lover Suzanne as security. They flee, but Bannion is hit by a bullet as they escape. They reach a snowy field where Johnny shoots one of his three pursuers before being shot himself. He dies before being able to say where the money is.[6]

Cast

[edit]

Production

[edit]

Joseph Losey said he was handed a ready-made script. "It was a concoction of all the prison films Hollywood ever made", he said. "Both Stanley Baker and I refused to work until they let us write our own script. Which is what we did."[7] He says the producers wanted a sequence where the criminals rob a race track but he felt that had been done in Stanley Kubrick's The Killing (1956), so he filmed it taking place off screen. According to Losey, Johnny Bannion was modelled on real-life Soho gangster Albert Dimes, whom Baker was acquainted with.[8] Frank Saffron, the prison mob boss, was patterned after Charles Sabini.

The film was the debut for several of its actors, including Murray Melvin, Roy Dotrice, Neil McCarthy and Derek Francis.

Release

[edit]

The film premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, August 28, 1960. It had a limited release in the United States, May 1962, but was “not shown at a major New York theatre.”[9]

Reception

[edit]

According to Losey the film was a commercial success. He said the film was banned in Ireland because so many of the prisoners were Irish Catholics.[7][10]

The film was reportedly very successful in Paris.[4]

Retrospective appraisal

[edit]

Characterizing the film’s style as “vital and vulgar as ever,” critic Dan Callahan at Senses of Cinema offers this measured praise:

Losey’s command of atmosphere and his ability to build tension are outstanding here…The bursts of violence in The Criminal are orgasmic in their surety, in their explosive feeling of energy at last unleashed. Some scenes spill over the top, making an unconvincing mess, yet mournful soundtrack jazz and winter landscapes signal a darkening of Losey’s consciousness.[11][12]

Theme

[edit]

Film historian Foster Hirsch describes the film as “a naturalistic study of the way the environment both creates and entraps a criminal mentality.[13]

Losey presents three major settings in the film: the penitentiary; Bannion’s apartment after his parole; and a desolate winter landscape where he’s hidden the heist money. None of these offer a refuge for the criminal. The first two domains appear as equivalents: the prison is merely the obverse of society at large, both of which impose repressive social hierarchies and inequities.[14] The visual contrast of the final setting - a snow-covered countryside field - proves fatal:

[T]he whiteness of the landscape contains its own terror; it too is a threatening rather than nurturing environment, and it is here, against the icy, impersonal whiteness, that the criminal is killed.[15]

Footnotes

[edit]
  1. ^ Caute, David (1994). Joseph Losey. Oxford University Press. p. 139.
  2. ^ Palmer and Riley, 1993 p. 160: Filmography
  3. ^ Hirsch, 1980 p. 236-237: Filmography
  4. ^ a b EUGENE ARCHER (15 March 1964). "EXPATRIATE RETRACES HIS STEPS: Joseph Losey Changes Direction With His British 'Servant'". New York Times. p. X9.
  5. ^ Hirsch, 1980 p. 76: “...a B movie prison melodrama redeemed by Losey’s skillful mise-en-scene.”
  6. ^ Hirsch, 1980 p. 76: “Brooding, hulking, shrewd, Bannion conforms to a stereotyped concept of a B-move hood. He knows how to survive in a concrete jungle of the underworld both in and out of prison.”
  7. ^ a b "FILM CRAFT: Joseph Losey talks to Peter Lennon". The Guardian. London. 9 July 1962. p. 5.
  8. ^ "BFI Screenonline: Criminal, The (1960)". www.screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  9. ^ Hirsch, 1980 p. 237: Filmography
  10. ^ Sanjek, 2002: “...The Criminal (1960) starring Stanley Baker, failed at the box office, and Losey was thereafter unable to secure work.”
  11. ^ Callahan, 2003: Ellipsis reads: “he even uses some cockeyed German Expressionist angles.”
  12. ^ Hirsch, 1980 p. 77: Losey “overcomes its formulaic elements and achieves an individual distinction.”
  13. ^ Hirsch, 1980 p. 57
  14. ^ Hirsch, 1980 p. 77: Losey’s “sustained use of the prison as a metaphor for society.”
  15. ^ Hirsch, 1980 p. 77-78

Sources

[edit]
[edit]
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